Internet Frustrations but hopefully we're back!!

Nick and I last blogged on our way to Uganda sitting in an airport and here we are sitting in London Heathrow awaiting our flight to India. Much has occurred in the past two weeks and our major frustration was the lack of internet services!! This was disappointing since we could have written so much for every day but alas we will try to recap some of the highlights in the next few blogs. I kept a written journal so will just adapt this for the blog:



The Great African Adventure

Part One:

We met the team at London Heathrow and the air was filled with excitement and anticipation. After settling in on the plane, we chatted a bit but soon we all chose sleep knowing our conversations could continue the next day. We arrived at Entebbe airport and quickly got our visas and luggage- all pieces arriving safely. Our Team Leaders: Gail and Debra were warmly met by all of their Ugandan friends. It was quite a warm welcome for all of us actually!! The team consisted of approximately 14 people from various regions of Canada. Loading the bus with luggage and cramming everyone in was a feat in itself but Joseph, Sarah and Soloman achieved it!! Our ride into Kampala was filled with conversations and pointing out different sites to one another. Trying to figure out how they drive in this country is interesting - I think there are two lanes but at times you could witness 4 lanes plus people walking on the edge of the road and bodabodas (motorcyle taxis) weaving in and out of traffic. Our first stop was the Garden City Shopping Plaza to exchange money and to purchase water. Then onto Gaba Lakeview Inn - our home for the next 9 days. It is a modest yet comfortable and quiet hotel (we hope to get pictures in soon!). A cold shower qreeted us but hey after such a long flight - it was refreshingand we now know where to flip the switch to get hot water from now on. After having lunch, Gail took us on a walk through the village of Gaba. Many people spoke and yelled out 'Mama Gail'. They were excited to see Gail back in their village. The children were very interested in the muzungus meaning 'white people' which they yelled out at us as we walked by on the narrow rutted mud/sand roads/tracks. They followed us along and enjoyed getting their pictures taken. Three Canadian children are part of the team and they became quick friends with many of the village children.
more to come ...

Leaving Greece - Next stop Uganda!!

Sadly we left Greece this morning. We are so thankful for our friends: Vivianne and her wonderful family, who showed us real Greek hospitality!! The visit was way too short but many memories were made and we cannot wait to come back again!! We would post some pictures but we are unable to upload them at this terminal. Yesterday we checked out the Acropolis and went to the soon-to-open Acroplois Museum which was a real highlight - another reason why we will be back once this extraordinary museum opens. We certainly enjoyed the sunshine - both in Lipsi and in Athens - AND despite sticking out like major tourists - we wore our shorts all the time!! Greek highlights - the tavernas - especially the Sunday evening that was organized by Vivianne's father, Jacob!! The night was filled with meeting new friends and making many toasts to our good health - yasu!! (Sorry Vivianne if my greek spelling is incorrect!) Also we made a toast to Thanksgiving thinking of family and friends at home. Vivianne translated it to Greek and the group of us raised our glasses. No - we did not have turkey - but we did have fish - fresh from the sea - (Thank you to Theo who cleaned mine on the spot!!) - and market veggies and greek salad and so much more!! It was a wonderful time and we thank our friends!!

We are off to Uganda now so a new post will occur from there!! Thinking of you all always!!

Some highlights from Romania

Here is a link to some photos taken by fellow Canadian Nancy Wilson, a Nice, France based reporter who visited us on the site, and joined us for a day of site-seeing. Make sure you look at the top of the page for links for the different albums. Enjoy!! And Thank You to Nancy for making us all famous celebrities and we hope to be in People Magazine soon!!


http://homepage.mac.com/nmwilson23/PhotoAlbum79.html

The beach beckons!!

Hello from Lipsi in the Greek Islands!! Nick and I have not been able to update Romania as of yet but we'll get to it soon. In the meantime, we're enjoying our studio in the sunshine!! It seems surreal to go from working on a construction site to a beautiful oasis but it is what we both needed. We are enjoying treats from the bakery and walking to the beach to read and swim in the sea. Yes - we are truly spoiled!! So we must be off as this part of our adventure will end on Saturday as we depart for Athens. We will be back and write more on our blog soon! Thinking of you all lots!!

Last day on the job!

Well, after 8 days of hard work with the rest of the team, we've finished at the site in Oarja. We'll post some before & after pics later on when we have some more time. Today, Nick & I were up on a rickety scaffold finishing painting the new stucco. We were an efficient painting duo! The rest of the team was working on removing the temporary scaffold that we built on our first day. We're quite proud of how much we got accomplished in the short time we were here, and it shouldn't be too much longer until people are able to move in to these apartments.
Gotta run, we're almost out of time, and we have to get to dinner with the entire crew.